NC Gov. Roy Cooper vetoes three GOP bills limiting how schools, doctors can help transgender kids

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Wednesday vetoed three bills targeting transgender rights.

The bills, passed recently by the state's Republican-led legislature, focused primarily on children. They suggest new restrictions on how schools and doctors should be able to help transgender teenagers and other children make their transition.

Cooper criticized GOP leaders for "using government to invade the rights and responsibilities of parents and doctors, hurting vulnerable children and damaging our state's reputation and economy like they did with the harmful bathroom bill."

His vetoes, however, are unlikely to survive the legislature where Republicans hold veto-proof supermajorities in both chambers.

Republican leaders swiftly criticized Cooper's vetoes Wednesday. Two Republican lawmakers, Sen. Amy Galey and Sen. Michael Lee, said in a press release that some of Cooper's claims were intentionally misleading "so he can drum up manufactured outrage and rake in donations."

Gender transitioning

One of the bills, HB 808, would ban doctors from providing medical care to transgender people under the age of 18, including puberty blockers or surgery, even if the kid's parents approve. Therapy would still be legal. GOP leaders have defended the bill as stopping permanent changes for kids who might later change their minds when they grow up; Sen. Paul Newton, R-Cabarrus, recently dismissed rising rates of transgender identification as a fad.

"The open-door policy of allowing children to permanently change their gender is reckless, and rightfully questioned by the medical community," Sen. Joyce Krawiec, R-Forsyth, said in a statement Wednesday after Cooper vetoed the bill. "Several countries are now restricting gender-reassignment procedures for minors, citing long-term consequences and permanent risks."

Parents of trans kids, as well as at least one trans teen, have spoken at multiple legislative committees on the bill in recent weeks to oppose it. Some have raised fears of even more transgender children committing suicide; others have said the bill will force them to move to another state if it becomes law.

Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrrara, executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality, wrote in a press release that the group has support systems available for transgender people and their families, to help them keep getting medical care.

“Even as we will advocate tirelessly for the [legislature] to do the right thing by sustaining Gov. Cooper’s veto, we remain clear-eyed that families should take steps to prepare if anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is enacted," she said. "Our team is at the ready to support families through our Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project to ensure that North Carolina youth have uninterrupted access to the health care they need and deserve.”

Athletics rules

Another one of the bills would ban schools from allowing trans girls and women to play on female sports teams, from middle school through college. Supporters of the legislation say people who were assigned male at birth tend to be stronger and faster than girls their age, even if they identify as female, and shouldn't be allowed to compete in female athletics.

"Women and girls who train for countless hours and years in their sports will have a level playing field, and their opportunities will be protected if this legislation becomes law," said Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the Christian conservative group NC Values Coalition, when the bill passed the legislature last month.

One of the bill's lead sponsors, Sen. Vickie Sawyer, accused Cooper on Wednesday of showing "no interest in supporting female athletes, only his far-left donors that want to erase women by refusing to acknowledge biology."

Both sides agree, however, that there are only a small number of cases of trans girls or women playing on female sports teams in North Carolina — maybe a dozen people statewide, out of hundreds of thousands of students.

Cooper said schools and conferences have already been making decisions on a case-by-case basis and should be allowed to continue doing that, rather than "politicians inflaming their political culture wars by making broad, uninformed decisions about an extremely small number of vulnerable children."

New rules for teachers

The third bill, which GOP supporters call the "Parents' Bill of Rights," would force teachers or other school employees to essentially out transgender children to their parents, even if the student opposes it.

Democratic opponents say it will lead to more children being abused, thrown out of their homes or potentially even dying. Republican supporters say schools shouldn't help kids keep secrets.

That bill will also ban elementary schools from teaching any curriculum that involves an acknowledgment of LGBTQ issues, like reading a book where a character has two moms or two dads. Critics compare it to a stricter bill in Florida, which also bans teachers from answering any students' questions about LGBTQ issues.

Republican leaders in North Carolina have objected to comparisons between the bill and that Florida law, saying teachers here would still be able to respond to students' questions about gay people or similar issues, even if they're banned from formally teaching lessons on the topic. But Cooper said the bill is clearly intended to scare supportive teachers into silence, for fear of losing their jobs.

"This 'Don’t Say Gay' bill also hampers the important and sometimes lifesaving role of educators as trusted advisers when students have nowhere else to turn," Cooper wrote in vetoing the bill. "The rights of parents are well established in state law, so instead of burdening schools with their political culture wars, legislators should help them with better teacher pay and more investments in students."

Fitzgerald said in a press release Wednesday that she looks forward to the legislature overriding all three of Cooper's vetoes on the trans bills.

"Children are being indoctrinated in schools, girls are being denied a level playing field in sports, and minors are being chemically and surgically castrated to advance a dangerous LGBTQ agenda that the majority of the public does not support," she said.